Iowa cosmetology training needs a makeover

The Iowa Legislature last Monday took a big step to make training more accessible for aspiring barbers and hairstylists. House File 711 would add the option to receive apprentice-style training at a salon, barbershop or beauty parlor under the supervision of its owner.

If enacted, more Iowans could pursue a career in the cosmetology and barbering industry without the hindrance of the cost of schooling or the debt it often involves.

The bill would require the state Board of Barbering and Cosmetology Arts & Sciences to create a training program in which establishments that perform barber and cosmetology services could register to participate. A participating establishment would be eligible to employ an unlicensed trainee in their shop to provide services such as shampoos, haircuts, coloring services and styles.

The owner of any participating establishment would be directly responsible for “ensuring the education, training, skills and competence” of their trainees, who would be required to complete a minimum of 2,000 hours of supervised training before taking their licensing exam — more than the 1,550 of combined classroom and practical training at a barber or cosmetology school.

HF 711 passed in the House on a 67-29 vote that was notably bipartisan — 11 Democrats supported the bill, including Sami Scheetz of Cedar Rapids and Adam Zabner of Iowa City. Nine Republicans joined Democrats in opposition. The bill now awaits action in the Senate.

It’s no surprise that the Iowa Barber and School Cosmetology Association formally opposes the bill. The association’s members — owners of multiple cosmetology schools around the state — stand to lose money if more barbers and stylists learn the craft on the job instead of paying to train at their institutions, where tuition and fees alone often exceed the annual tuition combined with living costs at an Iowa public university.

Let’s compare the numbers: annual tuition and fees at Iowa State University in Ames plus estimated housing and meals totals $22,295 for the current academic year.

PCI Academy is a cosmetology school with locations in Ames and Iowa City. In 2023, tuition and fees for its cosmetology program totaled $27,988 for a then-required 2,100 hours of study.

Legislation passed that same year reduced Iowa’s training requirement to 1,550 hours (similar to other states), a 26% reduction from the previous requirement. PCI Academy’s March 2025 catalog lists tuition and fees for a new 1,550-hour program at $25,988 a decrease of only 7 percent from the older 2,100-hour program.

Of the 1,550 hours of study currently required in Iowa for a cosmetology license, 960 must be devoted to practical instruction, which includes providing styling services to consumers. While the schools charge for those services, the students who perform them are not compensated other than tips.

Iowa’s current training requirements have enabled a lucrative business model for cosmetology and barber schools. But they’re a costly investment for students in a career where nationwide median pay in 2023 was between $16.81 and $17.38 an hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Iowans should favor more and better opportunities for aspiring barbers and stylists — ones that don’t require them to fork over tens of thousands of dollars to Iowa’s cosmetology cartel.

With HF 711 in force, a prospective barber or stylist would be trained in a real-world setting from day one, earning some sort of income while they learn — instead of paying tuition to a barber or cosmetology school where program schedules don’t guarantee the ability for students to have and keep outside employment.

What about safety and sanitation? A trainee must, according to HF 711, “first complete two hours of education related to barbering and cosmetology laws in this state and rules and sanitation” before they would be able to participate in providing services. That is indeed significantly lower than the 590-hour requirement for classroom theory and demonstrations currently required in Iowa Administrative Code. But that’s not the whole story.

The establishment training program proposed in HF 711 would require a whole 2,000 hours of supervised practice before a trainee can take the exam required for their applicable license. That’s more than twice the number of hours of practical instruction required in a cosmetology school’s curriculum — and more, even, than the total 1,550 hours of combined classroom and practical instruction currently required in the cosmetology cartel model.

To some in the business like Craig Hunt, owner of Universal Barbershop in Des Moines, the value of the on-the-job training proposed by HF 711 can’t be understated.

Speaking to KCCI in Des Moines last week, Hunt, a founding member of the Iowa Barbers Coalition formed last year to fight onerous regulations in the barbering profession, said, “We need a pathway where licensed professionals just like electricians or plumbers [can train] … people working up underneath us, underneath a private training program.”

While Iowa has 10,000 cosmetologists, said Hunt, “We have only 1,000 licensed barbers in the whole state.”

Not everyone in the industry is on board. Speaking with KCRG-TV9 in Cedar Rapids, Madi Baxa, owner of salon The Hive Inc. and a 2019 graduate of Capri College said, “It doesn’t make sense why we would lower our standards in the state of Iowa, especially.”

But are training methods the same as standards? Do Iowa’s standards actually drop?

According to HF 711, any salon, barbershop, spa or beauty parlor where training takes place must already be licensed as an establishment by the barbering and cosmetology board, subject to the same health and sanitary requirements — including state inspection — as a cosmetology school. Disciplinary action and legal remedies would still apply in situations of potential health endangerment or actual injury.

Just like at a cosmetology institute, a consumer seeking services at a training establishment would get to be aware in advance that the person serving them is not (yet) a licensed professional. HF 711 would require written notice given to any consumer and even prescribes the language of the notice:

“This licensed establishment is registered to participate in an establishment training program. This establishment employs unlicensed providers who work under the supervision of licensed providers. The services you are receiving are from an unlicensed provider participating in this program.”

Most importantly — and most directly to Baxa’s point — HF 711 specifically prohibits the relaxing of standards for becoming a barber or cosmetologist. To receive the legally required license, any trainee who completes the establishment training program would still be required to pass the same exam that a cosmetology school graduate takes.

To give readers an idea of the knowledge that a license requires, here are some sample questions from the National Cosmetology Theory Examination:

A condition caused by an infestation of head lice is:

A. tinea barbae B. scabies C. pediculosis capitis D. tinea capitis

When damaged, which of the following will cause the hair growth to be inhibited?

A. Papilla B. Shaft C. Cuticle D. Arrector pili

And that’s just the written part of the exam. (The answers are C and A, respectively.)

In and of itself, the exam requirement iterates the gravity of the task any licensed professional will assume if they register their establishment to train future professionals. A salon owner would have no choice but to set standards equal — higher, even — to those of a formal school if their trainees are to pass their exams and qualify for their license.

The standard is enhanced by incentive — no aspiring hairstylist would waste their time under the tutelage of someone who can’t properly train them. And no salon owner would be caught dead employing an inept trainee.

Aside from the joy and satisfaction of teaching the industry’s future best and brightest, what would a salon owner gain from making their business a training establishment? Plenty, if their once-trainee becomes a permanent hire or future business partner. Amid a wave of retiring baby boomers and a shortage of new stylists, who better could a retiring salon owner find to take over their business than someone they trained?

An aspiring stylist has plenty to gain from an establishment training program, too: On-the-job learning and counseling on a far more personalized basis, the ability to earn a few bucks in the process, and a strong start to a good career without the weight of student debt.

As for the rest of us in Iowa — we might get to select from a larger pool of talent to keep our hair, skin and nails all healthy and pretty. For the sake of my marvelous blonde mane, I’m ready for Iowa’s cosmetology training rules to get a makeover.

Comments: 319-398-8266; althea.cole@thegazette.com